TERM: How Importers Can Preserve Tariff Refund Rights Before Deadlines Pass
Most importers know they’re paying tariffs. Fewer know how much they’ve overpaid — or that they may have a legal right to recover those duties. Fewer still are taking the steps required to protect that right before the deadline passes.
That is the problem Navco’s Tariff Exposure & Recovery Management program — TERM — is designed to solve.
The Problem: Tariff Refunds Are Not Automatic
When tariff classifications are under legal challenge, regulatory review, or subject to exclusion proceedings, importers sometimes assume that any refund owed will be issued automatically once a decision is made. That assumption is wrong — and it costs companies money.
Under U.S. Customs law, importers have specific windows to file post-summary corrections, protests, reconciliation entries, and drawback claims. Those deadlines are fixed. If the right filing is not made on the right entry before the deadline expires, the refund right is gone — regardless of what a court or agency decides later.
For importers paying significant annual duties under Section 301, Section 232, or other tariff classifications currently in dispute or under review, this is not a theoretical risk. It is an active financial exposure that requires a structured management response.
What Is Navco’s TERM Program?
TERM — Tariff Exposure & Recovery Management — is Navco’s structured approach to identifying tariff exposure across an importer’s entry history, mapping all available recovery options, and executing the required filings before deadlines close.
The program transforms raw ACE (Automated Commercial Environment) data into an actionable management framework. It tells you exactly what you’ve paid, what you may be able to recover, and what needs to be filed — and when.
How TERM Works: Step by Step
Step 1: ACE Data Extraction and Consolidation
The process starts with a full extraction and consolidation of your entry data from U.S. Customs’ ACE system. This gives Navco a complete picture of your import activity — entry numbers, tariff classifications, duty payments, and entry dates — across the relevant filing period.
Step 2: Entry-by-Entry Tariff Exposure Analysis
Every entry is reviewed individually. Navco identifies which entries carry potential refund eligibility under current or pending exclusions, reclassification opportunities, first sale valuation adjustments, or other recovery mechanisms.
Step 3: Refund & Recovery Map
The output of the analysis is a Refund & Recovery Map — a structured document that shows each recovery opportunity, the specific filing required to preserve it, the deadline for that filing, and the estimated recoverable amount.
This gives your finance and compliance teams a clear, deadline-driven action plan rather than a general assessment.
Step 4: Filing Execution and Deadline Management
Navco executes the required filings — post-summary corrections, protests, reconciliation entries, drawback claims — and tracks each one through resolution. The program is designed to make sure nothing falls through the cracks and no deadline is missed.
What TERM Recovers
Depending on a company’s import profile and duty history, TERM can identify and pursue recovery through several mechanisms:
- Post-Summary Corrections (PSCs) — filed to correct errors in duty classification or valuation within the allowable window after entry liquidation
- Protests — formal challenges to CBP’s classification or valuation decisions, filed within 180 days of liquidation
- Reconciliation Entries — used when the final value of imported goods couldn’t be determined at the time of entry
- Duty Drawback — recovery of up to 99% of duties paid on imported goods that are subsequently exported or destroyed
- Section 301 Exclusion Refunds — recovery of duties paid on goods that were later granted exclusion from Section 301 tariffs
Who Should Be in a TERM Engagement?
TERM is most relevant for companies that meet one or more of the following criteria:
- Pay $500,000 or more in annual duties under Section 301 or Section 232 classifications
- Import goods in tariff classifications currently under legal challenge or regulatory review
- Have not conducted a formal review of post-summary correction or protest eligibility in the past two years
- Export or destroy a portion of imported goods and have not filed for duty drawback
- Operate under first sale or related-party pricing structures that may support valuation adjustments
For companies in these categories, TERM is not an optional compliance exercise. It is a deadline management program with direct financial consequences — and the clock is running on entries that are already in the system.
Why Navco for TERM?
Navco is a licensed U.S. Customs broker with direct access to ACE data and 30+ years of experience managing tariff classifications, duty payments, and post-entry filings across a wide range of industries and product categories.
The TERM program was built specifically because Navco saw the same pattern repeating across importers: significant refund eligibility, expiring deadlines, and no structured process to act on either. TERM closes that gap.
Engagements are structured on a contingency basis where applicable — meaning Navco’s fees are tied to results, not billable hours. There is no upfront cost for the recovery component of the program.
Get Started
If your company has paid significant duties in the past one to five years and has not conducted a formal tariff exposure review, the first step is a TERM consultation. Navco will pull your ACE data, assess your entry history, and give you a clear picture of what recovery opportunities exist — and how much time remains to act on them.
Contact Navco Logistics to schedule your TERM consultation.
Jim Griffin, Jr.
+1 956-542-4138
jgriffinjr@navcologistics.com | www.navcologistics.com
Trade Advisory | Customs Brokerage | 3PL | Bonded & FTZ Programs | Freight Management